The Monkees 45th Anniversary Tour
The Fox Theatre Detroit
“Here, I'm going to make you a big star ... and you don't have to pay any dues.
For that, you're going to get no respect from your contemporaries.
To me, that was the cruelest thing.”
- Phil Spector, 1968 Pop Chronicles Interview
Spector’s prescient comments resonate with the Monkees to this day. After all this time and a massive amount of media coverage from newspaper articles, interviews, books and autobiographies, the members of the Monkees continue to be derided for their manufactured image and an enduring misperception about their musicianship or lack thereof. This current reunion performance should put at least some of that purist grousing to rest.
Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork made no bones about it. They were in Detroit to sing and dance and make some wonderful music. 37 songs and over two hours later they proved their mettle and then some with a well produced multi-media presentation that went beyond the hits and dug deep into their impressive catalog of music. Video clips from the sixties television show were interspersed with segments from their obscure 1968 film Head and period commercials. The archival performance clips were matched with the onstage set list to provide a powerful mirroring of the past to the present.
The band opened with a rapid fire archeological excavation of their earliest sons beginning with I’m a Believer, Mary, Mary and Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow) as well as Valleri, Saturday’s Child and a rather restrained I Wanna Be Free. Their 1986 chestnut That Was Then, This is Now got things back on track with some deep in the pocket obscurities that sounded great - I Don’t Think You Know Me, All of Your Toys, and Someday in the Morning. Davy Jones knocked it out of the park with a rousing high energy performance of She Hangs Out and Peter Tork sang Nesmith’s What Am I Doing Hangin’ Round as if he owned it. In fact, Tork appeared to be in great shape. His voice has gotten better with age and he is able to sing with depth and nuance – pitch perfect! Dolenz is acknowledged as the best vocalist in the band. He is. His voice is almost operatic in its power and range. He effortlessly spans at least three octaves and he’s the most energetic yet composed performer onstage. He can swing, stalk, and skip across the stage like it was 1967. And so it was.
According to reliable sources (Peter Tork), Davy Jones was in charge of the stage production and the song list. Good thing. He had impeccable taste in balancing the hits with the more obscure tracks that true Monkee fans want to hear. He was able to segment the show in a way that would build the energy and excitement for the musicians and the crowd. The eight piece band proved to be crack musicians – drums, guitar, bass, sax, trumpet - and they all sang - whether in unison or harmony. The result was stunning. The sound was crisp and balanced never too hot or muffled. As the show progressed, Jones gradually found his voice and his sea legs. His energy shifted and he danced like a race horse first off the line. It was an inspiring performance that no one else could pull off with such an offhand charm - he was Jones-in’ like a prize fighter taking a hit, shaking it off and coming back for more.
Midway through the show the Monkees devoted an entire musical segment to Head, their film masterpiece that included Peter Tork’s psychedelic Can You Dig It and the rockin’ Do I Have to do this All Over Again as well as Goffin/King’s Porpoise Song (Theme From Head), As We Go along (Carol King/Toni Stern) and Nilsson’s Daddy’s Song. It is pure musical and theatrical magic that has earned its slight cradle of grace in the ensuing 43 years, affirmed by fans and critics alike.
They shifted gears to mixing up tracks from their session for Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. (the astrological signs of each band member) – Cuddly Toy, Words, Goin’ Down, Daydream Believer with songs from the lp Headquarters which is famously known as the first Lp where the Monkees had control in the studio. The results were stunning. Toward the end of the night Tork sang the wondrous Shades of Gray, his song about contemplation, values and multiple realities. He played piano AND the French Horn – a virtuoso performance. By the end of the show the Monkees exploded with an upscale Your Auntie Grizelda and rousing renditions of Last Train to Clarksville (a great Boyce & Hart anti-war song that’s not “in your face” about it), A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You, I’m Not Your Steeping Stone, and a sing-a-long crowd pleasing, hands in the air Daydream Believer. The encores were well considered Nesmith’s Listen To The Band, the bourgeois busting Pleasant Valley Sunday and a reprise of I’m A Believer with Dolenz, Tork and Jones goofin’ like modern day Marx Brothers chasing each other off the stage and running back to take just one more bow for their adoring fans
This is a tour-de-force that no other band could pull off with such aplomb and loving sensitivity to a bygone era of mini-skirts and music that mattered. The Monkees were able to reach down and deep into our Boomer spirit to open up a forgotten path to our youthful exuberance where we could divine such nonsense as peace and love and remember, just for a moment, that we really believed we could make it happen.
CODA: Although it all happened 25 years ago, in my mind it’s only yesterday. My son Ryan was only 5 years old when I gave him several of my old torn up and tattered Monkees albums. The dusty LPs sat on the floor in the corner of his bedroom for what seemed to be months. He didn’t seem very interested in the treasure I bestowed upon him… but gradually…quietly he began to pick up the LPs and look at the covers. When I played the LPs on my stereo, he listened silently, as if preoccupied with other thoughts. One day I went into his bedroom. He was sleeping but resting next to him were several sheets of paper with almost surrealistic images of the Monkees. Ryan had quietly, meticulously drawn his heroes. He was also copying their names in large erratic letters – DAVY, MIKE, PETER, MICKEY. One day I was getting ready for work, Ryan was outside on his swing. He was swinging furiously and shouting something intelligible. I walked outside to check in on him and all the hubbub. And then I stopped in my tracks… I could hear him singing clearly, exuberantly, at the top of his lungs…”Hey Hey We’re the Monkees.”
That summer I took the entire family to Castle Farms in Charlevoix to see the Monkees in Concert. It was a great show. Ryan sat next to me on those old rickety wood benches, entranced by the spectacle of the crowd, the stage and the uncommon opportunity to hear his favorite songs in an organic, living moment. The air sparkled with the energy of pulsating live music that resonated deeply within our five senses and beyond.
Ryan never forgot it. Neither did I.
Peace & Love
Bo White.
